A British national, I moved to the French Alps at the end of 2011 and have been enjoying the outdoor life here ever since. My main interests are in trail running, but basically I love anything that involves going up or down a mountain. I thought I'd share a few of my experiences here.

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Saturday, 17 March 2012

First Ride of the Year

Since moving to France, both my road bike and mountain bike have
been sat still in packing boxes in our barn. This week was beautiful
sunshine, warm days and dry roads, but work commitments made it
impossible to get out. Bad weather was on its way (heavy snow) Sunday,
so I took my chance and headed out to the local hamlets to at least get
some KMs into my legs.

I’m seriously glad that I did, as time had dulled my memory about how
bloody hard cycling is. It was pleasant, but windy day which made even
the few flat sections tough. It’s stating the obvious but being in the
mountains, everything was either uphill or downhill.

The
quiet roads around Mas Bourget - only the odd barking dog and bemused
local to bother me - not a Kent white-van-man in sight!

Close to 25km was enough for now, I’ve got my sights set on tackling
the Col de Grimone which is the nearest local decent ride. I seriously
hope that I’ve got a problem with my heart rate monitor though, as my
maximum heart rate was clocked at 254bpm!

A bit of pootling around the villages and its back home. However, the
5km back up the valley to the house is surprisingly sustained, and
quite tough considering its only 100m in elevation.